The scene is Rome; the time is the fourth century BC. But its themes of war, power, and leadership resonate painfully and urgently today. Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Coriolanus (1605), in a compelling revival at the Theatre for a New Audience, tells the story of a fiery, fanatical warrior named Caius Martius (played by McKinley…
Nestled between a chemical dump site and a looming nuclear power plant sits the small town of Muddirt, an offbeat enclave populated by a zany cast of misfits and one larger-than-life mythical creature. Bigfoot! A New Musical is now playing at New York City Center Stage in association with Manhattan Theatre Club. With its blend…
From the looks of it, much of the audience at Classic Stage Company probably remembers Marcel Marceau. He was a mime, widely considered the greatest in the world, and widely derided by the many folks who hate mimes. He bestrode the mid-20th century world stage, performing everywhere from Broadway to Australia to Taiwan, mime fortunately…
The Unknown, now in performances at Studio Seaview, is an 80-minute monologue, a one-act psychological thriller written with Sean Hayes in mind. The plot is loosely based on an experience of playwright David Cale thirty years ago. It follows Elliot, a lonely, single, gay playwright struggling with writer’s block. He goes to a friend’s remote…
The scene is an empty, nondescript room, with fluorescent lighting and a pile of random items (painting, furniture). It could be anywhere (someone’s basement, a room in an office building, a school?). One by one, a number of women enter, apparently preparing for a meeting of some kind. First to arrive is Jane (April Matthis),…
The premise of the off-Broadway musical Just Desserts: A Musical Bake-Off is simple: somewhere in the Midwest, there is a bake-off at the Jefferson County fair. The top bakers have been narrowed to five, a cross-section of townies: haughty reigning champ Mildred, self-effacing school nurse Jean, ambitious Emma, bubbly twice-divorced Brandy, and Brooklyn transplant Lou….
Remember back in school when you were told to stand up in front of your peers and read from a textbook? Now imagine raising the stakes: not simply reading what’s in front of you, but spelling a word out loud, letter by letter, with nothing to rely on but memory, instinct, and nerve. Suddenly, every…
Richard Chang’s Ai Yah Goy Vey!, now at A.R.T./New York Theatres, is this winter’s offering from the Pan Asian Repertory. Subtitled “Adventures of a Dim Sun in Search of His Wanton Father,” the play’s junior-high level of punning humor thus shows up before things even get started. Start they do, as Chang rides into the…
There is a price to pay when you speak truth to power. And none more horrible than the fate of Hans Litten, a lawyer who called Adolf Hitler to the witness stand in 1931 to prove his credo of political violence. The case, the Eden Dance Palace trial, involved four Nazi storm troopers who claimed…
Here’s a run-don’t-walk moment: if you’re ready to warm up this deep-chill winter, go see The Porch on Windy Hill, the “new play with old music” written by Sherry Stregack Lutken, Lisa Helmi Johanson, Morgan Morse, and David M. Lutken. Lutken and Morse also star, along with Tora Nogami Alexander, in this heartfelt play about…